Braedan Willis, Vikes Communications

VICTORIA- The University of Victoria Vikes women's basketball team came up with a decisive 91-58 win over the Fraser Valley Cascades on Shoot for the Cure night at the CARSA Performance Gym in Victoria on Jan.11. 

Fifth-year Amira Giannattasio was perfect from the free throw line, going 10-for-10 on the night and recording a total of 20 points. The Vikes had five different players crack double digits in points. Calli McMillan posted 14, Katie Langdon with 13 and Aleah Ashlee and Ashlyn Day each had 12. The win improves Victoria's record to 8-5.

"I felt our ability to get to the free throw line really made the difference tonight," said Vikes head coach Dani Sinclair. "We were able to get a lot of points off second chances but overall it was it was another good team effort and we moved the ball well around the court." 

Taylor Clagget led the Cascades in scoring with 20 as her team fell to a record of 10-5 in the Canada West standings. Fouls plagued the Cascades all night long taking a total of 24 personal fouls throughout the game. 

"We didn't defend at all tonight," commented Cascades assistant coach Dan Nayebzadeh. "If we want to pick up a win tomorrow we will have to do better rebounding the ball and play a lot harder. We did not play smart tonight." 

With time about to expire in the first quarter, Fraser Valley's Victoria Jacobse sank a three but the Vikes still led by a narrow margin of 24-22 at the break. Langdon, McMillan and Ashlee each had six points in the opening frame while Clagget led her team with nine. 

Leading 43-34 in the second quarter, second-year forward Ashlyn Day scored back-to-back baskets for the Vikes. Day's second score came off a Cascades turnover that forced Fraser Valley head coach Al Tuchscherer to call a timeout as Victoria began to steal momentum. Day led the Vikes in scoring through two quarters with 12 and it was Amanda Thompson with 13 leading the way for the visitors. The home side carried a 54-38 lead over Fraser Valley heading to the locker room at halftime. 

Just past the half way mark of the third frame, Fraser Valley had already recorded five team fouls giving the Vikes numerous opportunities to continue to pad their lead. Victoria led by an average of 20 points for the majority of the quarter thanks to the strong play of the veteran Giannattasio. Clagget scored half of her teams points in the third with seven but the Cascades weren't able to pull themselves back into the game. The Vikes eventually closed out the game with the final score reading 91-58. Both teams will be back in action against each other tomorrow night and can be watched live on at canadawest.TV 

SCORING SUMMARY
              1          2          3         4:         F         
VIC:      24        30        22      15:       91
UFV:     22        16        14       6:        58
 
SCORING LEADERS

VIC: Amira Giannattasio (24), Katie Langdon (17), Ashlyn Day (10)

UFV:  Taylor Clagget (20), Amanda Thompson (13), Kate Head (7)